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TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO RASTAFARI UNITED NEWSLETTER

March 2005 #5

“This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, unthankful, unholy”.

This Issue of the Freedom Fighter is Livicated to the Rastafari Idren and Sistren of the Fyzabad and Siparia and Point Fortin villages of South Trinidad.


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Cover Art— Ras Ravin-I Design and layout— Ras Ravin-I

Contributing Writers— Ras Ravin-I / Professor Lance Seunarine / Ras Jahaziel Photographs— Bro. Joel Heaton/ Ras Ravin-I / Andrew Marks

H.I.M Photos— TTRU Rastafari Archives

Published by The Trinidad and Tobago Rastafari United Media Department.

FROM THE EDITORS LITTLE HOLE IN THE WALL

Greetings yet once again, The ideas keep flowing and the comments keep coming in, thank you all for the support. We would like to let you know that we will soon be publishing a “Hard Copy” of the Freedom Fighter. We will be including a subscription form in the near future as soon as we can find a reasonable printer. So...look for it, Please forward your comments as we intend to start a reader comment col-umn, we also invite you to send in your literary works for publication— poetry and essays. Misgana. Blessed is he that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly nor sitteth in

the seat of the scornful.

NEWS FROM TRINIDAD. The Trinidad and Tobago Rastafari United hosted it’s first gathering at it’s home base in Trinidad on Feb. 19th 2005. The session was attended by Idren and Sistren from the surrounding village of Fyzabad. Speakers Ras Lincoln and Ras Jag reasoned with the congregation about The TTRU’s plans and objectives for the near future and have invited ones to participate in the upkeep and functioning of the TTRU. We also launched our library and it is open to the public on Saturdays, FROM 10 AM –3PM. Look for more news and photographs on the gathering in the April issue of the Freedom Fighter. Misgana Haile Sellassie I

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Spirituality The Lion of Judah has prevailed Haile Selassie I, Elect of God King of Kings of Ethiopia The temple of the most high begins with the human body, which houses our life, essence of our existence. Africans are in bondage today because they approach spirituality through Religion provided by foreign invaders and conquerors. We must stop confusing religion and spirituality. Religion is a set of rules, regulations and rituals created by humans which were supposed to help people grow spiritu-ally. Due to human imperfection religion has become corrupt, political, divisive and a tool for power struggle. Spirituality is not theology or ideology. It is simply a way of life, pure and original as was given by the Most High. Spirituality is a network linking us to the Most High, the universe and each other. As the essence of our existence it embodies our culture, true identity, nationhood and destiny. A people without a nation they can really call their own is a people without a soul. Africa is our nation and is in spiritual and physical bondage because her leaders are turning to outside forces for solutions to African problems when everything Africa needs is within her. When African righteous people come together, the world will come together. This is our divine destiny.

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EMAIL : [email protected]

The Promised Key by G.G. Maragh

(The Rt. Hon. Leonard Percival Howell)

ETHIOPIAN QUESTION The Ethiopian Question is this: The continent of Ethiopia is that national. She is that rich national woman that has charmed the men of nations to be with her. After a time when they all have lived and cohabited with her they all broke her down and left her and persecuted her. That is just how all nations manage to soak through the Ethiopian woman of prosperity. She had too much sympathy for the perishing nations whose lives are riotously lived until this day.

Slave traders went into Ethiopia and damaged her seeds, beyond any earthly cure. Because she had too much sympathy for willful idlers of various nations. They went into her robbed her lands, money and took her seeds to be slaves. Today she and her children have no power in her own land, or abroad. All that Ethiopians have to do now, is build anew. Get out a new dictionary and a new Bible, and a new Board of Education and Money Mint. The outfit shall be called Black su-premacy; signed by His and Her Majesty Ras Tafari and Queen omega the King of Kings, head of this world. The lesson learnt by slave traders through Black Histories is well preserved. We have given our blood, souls, bodies and spir-its to redeem Adam Abraham Anglo Saxon the white A. D. second score at his astonishing stop. He is still infested with in-domitable, incurable, accursed, deadly disease. We have given him access to the tree of life, we gave him the Garden of Eden, we gave him Egypt, we gave them Daniel and the body of the Black Virgin, the mother of Jesus and they took Joseph also. We gave ourselves to be slaves for hundred of years. We gave up King Alpha and Queen Omega the first and the last. Now we are disgusted with them, we wash our hands of them for life.


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By Ras Ravin-I


De critics an dem say it have ah white ooman web forum, an all dem doing is trying to control the runnings with all kinda misguided informa-tion about Rasta, some ah dem say they praise Jesus and some ah dem never even went to de Caribbean but dem only talking patois, lord dem critics sure know how to create bacchanal, den de critics say how de ooman dem messing up the Rasta philosophy with Jewishness…..ah next ting de critics say is how some ah dem ooman jest come tuh Rastafari and already dem calling demselves mama dis and mama dat… An some ah dem say we not living in biblical times dis is de year 2005..hmmmm..an dem say dey is Rasta. Ah next ting ah hear is dat ah white ooman say if yuh have ah child wid ah black man dat guarantee yuh ah place in Rasta-fari…..pure bacchanal dat. Yestaday..somebody tell meh dat de Ethiopian people dem doh like Rasta an how de Rasta is not Ethiopian….an dey doh like how de Rasta dem does only smoke ganja. but dey like the reggae music, an how thousands of dem come out tuh de Bob Marley birthday celebration. Man ..it have some critics out dey does say whatever dey want and try tuh make people be-lieve that wat dey say is Rasta philosophy. Look...yuh see me. lemme hush meh mouth, it does get meh in trouble. Now de ooman dem only complaining bout de man dem, dey say de man dem only giving dem baby and doh want to take care ah de baby dem. Well...ah doh no wha tuh say bout dat one. Dat one is pure commess….pure bacchanal dat. Look yuh see me...I going an find something tuh do wid mehself before meh mouth get meh in trouble.

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$15.00 USD PER CARD OF 12

ASSORTED AND COLORFUL

VISIT OUR WEB PAGE FOR MORE INFORMA-TION AND TO PURCHASE.

Http:www.aiyamar.com

WE WILL SHIP WORLDWIDE

YOUR PURCHASE GOES TOWARD FUNDING OUR SCHOOL

BUILDING PROJECT IN TRINIDAD

Please note that cards would vary in button selection and what you see in the ad may not be the one you get, all of our buttons are done with

Rastafari in mind.

TRINIDAD & TOBAGO: In the 1940s, a Garveyite bishop named Edwin Collins set up what he said was a legitimate Coptic church under the Patriarch of Alexandria. Trinidad is an Ethiopian Orthodox church success story.


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Armageddon Continued from page 5


Jah Ruben’s gates, Tobago, West Indies– Photo By Ras Ravin-I

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REASONING WITH BRO. LANCE SEUNARINE CONTINUED FROM FEBUARY ISSUE.

Emperor Selassie I says that without health there can be no education or economic development. Let me shift you to the continent. There are over 32 million people in the world diagnosed with AIDS with 20 million alone in Af-rica. Every day in Africa, 6,000 Africans from die AIDS. They have run out of space to bury the AIDS victims in Kwa Zululand. In South Africa, it cost 2 pennies for a five gallon bucket of water. In Kenya, the children at-tends school in classes which reminded me when I used to go to school at Ms. Peters in Point Fortin and where we all sat under her house, had the dirt in front of us for our slate and with a piece of wood as our pencil. Accord-ing to the NY Times 10/23/04, it recorded that in Kenya, the class size ratio is one teacher to 248 students. Please tell me how come when in the 60s as Africans were gain-ing their independence, they were able to put more money in their budget for education and today they could only afford no more than 5% of their budget. Well, the answer is because they, too, thought that to be consid-ered developed, you had to undertake all those grandiose schemes. But don’t forget the Soucayant called the IMF and the other Largablesse called the World Bank that have turned us into a jamaette where we must now hustle if we want to stay alive. Here nah man Africa is the wealthiest continent on Earth but yet the poorest! Part of the reason is the mindset that Manley spoke off and which Selassie I told us about that unless all are we are free, and that means free within ourselves, we would re-main enslaved. It is like if Mandrake waved his wand and hypnotized us into believing that the problem for the high prices of oil, is because China and India are expand-ing their business. It is true that there is a massive expan-sion and development in those two countries. (Look at the Red Black and Green and the Ethiopian Flag, they are now made in China). But, my idrens it is also true that the Europeans are a greedy set of people who sit on billions of barrels of gas for strategic purpose and want us to believe that the problem is the Third World coun-tries. . So, if the problem is we, then leave us alone and not come behind we oil in Cabinda, Angola, Sudan, Ni-geria, Chad, Gabon, and we here in Trini and Venezuela. If we in the Third world are the problem, then leave us alone to become the breadbasket for the Middle East as Ethiopia is said to be able to feed not only she but also all of North Africa. If we are the problem, then leave we alone so we could take back we land and farms for the Freedom Fighters in Zimbabwe, or as the MASAI are doing in Kenya. The Africans are right not to attack Mugabe but they must be more vocal to get the IMF and America to stay away from him. We must be just as vo-cal to get them off his back as we are vocal against Presi-dent Bush.

MAUBY AND ROCK—THE MIS-EDUCATION OF WE PEOPLE cont’d

We must become more vocal in telling Mr. Blair to honor the Lancaster Accords and pay dem white people for the 835 farms as he had promised to do. Now ah come to something that is closer to home. Some of us might say that Rastafari should not be involved in Politics. Yet, you say that you are following the Utterances of Selassie I and Marcus Garvey. Well, Marcus formed a political Party – PPP and contested the election in Ja-maica in 1933, and he lost. The problem was not that he did not have the masses, as you have been made to believe, but the con-ditions to vote included being a landowner and you had to pay a special tax of 10 shillings. So whey yuh go find all dem Black people with 10 shillings when dey only making a penny and some cases six cents a day. If you know your history of Rasta-fari, you know that some of the Ancients were arrested. This was a political act especially when they tried to say that some of them were crazy people. I guess yuh have to be crazy to attack yuh father in England and Bush here in America. But here nah, Sam Brown, a Rasta was for the politicizing of the Rasta and we know it was the Rastas that brought about a change in Grenada when they took over the government, and this was when Bishop and the others were on a boat in the ocean. Ras Miguel Lorne has resurrected the PPP and has become the voice for many Rastas in Jamaica. Yuh thirsty now so drink up meh 30 minutes is nearly up so I have to move on. So really I tried to show that we must have the mind set for change, we must have the respect for one another regardless of which mansion yuh belong to. It was a excellent attempt to assist the Empress in St Andrews, Jamaica. BUT, it was a shame that we did not beckon to the call quickly by donating the much needed cash to help rebuild. I must say with all the Rastas and all the Wannabee, we could not raise $600. Man wha happen to we? We dotish or kilkatee! We must develop a sense of wanting to be our bredren keepers. The Bible says that we are to love our neighbors as we love our-selves. This is Self Reliance. We must begin to think that we must live within our means. Ah directing this to we Trinis and Jamaicans who believe that development has to be what it ap-pears to be in America. How could we think that we are devel-oped in America when 50% of the adult male are unemployed and when the war in Iraq is basically fueled at the expense of poor people of all colors who are the cannon fodder for the RPGs. In other words, take off the yampie from your eye and live within your means. It is what Nyerere warned us about that development must be within grasp of what we could afford. It is better to have our people use hoes and be fully employed than to have a few working on a tractor while there is mass unemploy-ment. We must make the children be the center of our Universe. Some of you might know Big Dread. Well Big Dread and Sister Sara allow their children to be raised in a world of respect and also to respect adults but, yet, still expand their creativity. You-must be proud of all our children and let them know when they do well in school. Just recently, Ras Ravin shared with me his dawtas success in school. I felt just as proud and I let them know how I felt as I congratulated them



Photo by Andy Marks

We can’t be caught up with the thinking that is he chile and not mine. Boy, when I was growing up in Point Fortin, my success made every one in the village felt proud not only for my family, but all. Go up on Point alive.com and you will see how we Point people talk about one another. It is this type of sharing that is needed as part of the curricula for change in the Diaspora. This is Nationhood. Let us quickly move to another issue. When we say let us help we are saying also to share with one another your skills. That is why we are seeking to have as many to help us to make TTRU a model. Now we own the land. We are financing the land and buildings for ourselves. In other words, we are saying what Marcus Garvey told us, “no one respects a beggar.” It is our nation that we seek to build that is why we have not limited it to Bobo Shanti or Nyabinghi, but all mansions are welcome. That is why Sister Megan, Sister Jharna and Sister Ethel must be showered with praises for they have pledged their time to help us develop a curricu-lum for the health care component. In Trinidad, our prob-lem is AIDS, TB, Diabetes, and High Blood Pressure. The same can be said of Jamaica, here in America, and Africa. When we succeed with this project we will duplicate it all around the globe where people of color and progressive people reside. Our communities are crying out for help. When we ask you to help, don’t think it is going into our pockets. This is not a scam! Let me say this to you: your one dollar in Trinidad is worth $6TT, in Jamaica it is $50, in Ghana, it is 10,000 Cedi. In Benin, West Africa, it is 500CFA Francs. In Uganda, $20 can feed a family of 3 for three months. So when we ask, please help. We are design-ing a high tech school since we want to capitalize on tech-nology. Ras Ravin, Brother Nathan and some of you are experts in this room. Our goal is to unite all the schools in our communities and then have a curriculum that is stan-dardized so that we can teach simultaneously, here, there and everywhere. In other words, via satellite. Baba G in Kenya has worked with some bredrens and the AVU is in place.

There are schools in Shashamane, Haiti, Benin, Bronx, DC, Diego Martin, Trinidad and when the time comes, we will have them all linked up. The AVU has the blessing from the educa-tion ministries in Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania. This has to be the way to teach; we cannot afford to build these structures in each country when we lack health care workers and teachers. Collective strength and collective unity! I see my time is up so I must close now but before I go, I want you dig deep into your pockets and help us on top what you have done, so that we could achieve the amount needed to grade the land before we could pour the concrete floor. Misgana, and I love you. Brother Lance Reasoning at the WMRCC gathering at the Le Grange, Monta-gue, Mass., October 30, 2004.

Ethiopian Taste Inc. 985 NOSTRAND AVENUE

BROOKLYN NY 11225

PHONE: 718-774-0804 FAX: 718-774-0972

EMAIL: [email protected]

As Solomon says, physical distance cannot be a barrier to love. Likewise, the dis-tances among your respective countries have been abol-ished by the proximity of your hearts. HIM HAILE I SELASSIE I


Umoja Too Children’s Dance Co led by Sister Tashina Bowman. Umoja Too was founded by Sister Earline Robinson, sister Earline has passed away leaving behind

an Amherst, Massachusetts legacy of Cul-tural diversity based in the form of West

African dance and drum. The Trinidad and Tobago Rastafari United would like to extend a heartfelt thank you to children and parents and drummers of

Umoja Too for their help and participation in making the TTRU’S recent fund raiser

a success.

The TTRU’S school project is based in Trinidad, West Indies.

THANK YOU ALL VERY MUCH

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Ethiopians struggle with Rastafarian tenets at Bob Marley fest AFP) 7 February 2005

ADDIS ABABA - Even as hundreds of thousands of cheer-ing Ethiopians and visitors came together happily to cele-brate Bob Marley here Sunday, an undercurrent of mistrust and uncertainty swelled through the crowd. Many of the late reggae legend’s fans pose enormous prob-lems for Ethiopia’s overwhelmingly devout orthodox Chris-tian majority who regard the teachings and precepts of Rastafarians to be suspect at best and blasphemous at worst. Most cannot fathom how or why Rastafarians believe their former emperor Haile Selassie is god, consider Ethiopia the Biblical promised land or smoke marijuana, illegal in this country, as a sacrament. And beneath a sea of dreadlocked Rastas waving portraits of the emperor and hoisting the red, green and yellow colors of the Ethiopian flag in Addis Ababa’s Meskel Square, those concerns were evident. “I don’t have much affection for them, but I am not against them,” said Zenbe Biru, a 22-year-old student at Addis Ababa University. “I have a problem understanding their philosophy.” Like many other Ethiopians in the estimated crowd of more than 200,000, he said he had been prepared to put aside his misgivings in order to watch the free outdoor concert, a rare and exciting event with good music. “I have my own reservations about the Rastafarians,” said 18-year-old high school pupil Alem Desta. “I hate the way they dress and mostly I hate what they smoke.

“I have never dreamed of considering them as one of us. They have their own home, we have our own,” he said. “But I like their music.” The Rastafarian movement was born in the slums of Jamaica in the decades after Ras Tafari Makonnen in 1930 was coro-nated Emperor Haile Selassie the First of Ethiopia, then the only African nation not to have been colonized. With titles such as “King of Kings,” ”Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah” and “Elect of God,” Haile Selassie be-came the object of veneration for Jamaicans through a mix-ture of Biblical prophecy and anti-colonial rhetoric. And when Haile Selassie visited the island in 1966, not ac-cepting divinity, but not discouraging it either, the Back to Africa movement begun in the United States in the 1940s picked up steam in Jamaica. The emperor offered the Rastafarians land to settle south of Addis Ababa and since his death in 1975, a succession of post-Haile Selassie governments in Ethiopia has been trying to deal with their presence. Persecuted in the 1970s and “80s by a Marxist dictatorship that had no use for royalty or god, Ethiopia’s Rastafarians are now tolerated by a government that walks a fine line when it comes to religion. “The government is not interested in contesting religious claims,” said Information Minister Simon Bedekat, when asked about complaints from conservative Christians that the Bob Marley celebrations were blasphemous.



Ethiopians struggle with Rastafarian tenets at Bob Marley fest (cont’d ) “This is a secular government that acknowledges the right to believe in what you believe,” he said. “Basically the Rastafari-ans have the right to believe in what they believe and the evangelicals also have that right.” But the use of marijuana, as closely held as belief as any for Rastafarians, does bother the government, Bedekat said. “We’re worried about it,” he said. “We believe that an emerging society must guard itself from any scourge, be it drugs or other types of negative influences.” And yet, despite the drugs and dress, the unusual beliefs and other misgivings about the Rastas, a number of Ethiopians were amused and pleased to see all the attention Haile Selassie is getting 30 years since his death. “I am really surprised to see this celebration in a place where I was condemning Haile Selassie on the orders of (the commu-nist government),” said pensioner Abebe Gutama, who turned out to watch the concert. A septuagenarian former employee in the emperor’s palace, Assefa Tessema, said he was stunned by Haile Selassie’s new-found prominence. “I was afraid his deeds and activities would remain buried like his body,” he said. “I never expected to hear his name again as glorified as today in dignity and honor. It’s really a miracle.” Perhaps divine after all. Article retrieved from Rastafari Online message board visit Rastafari Online.Com for more news.

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Greetings, This is an update on the work/study trip to Trinidad in August of 2005. As of March 31st 2005 the TTRU will close the doors to the planned trip to Trinidad, as March is the timeline that had been previously set for the purchasing of group tickets at discounted rates, we have several people go-ing on the trip and preparations are being put in place at the TTRU compound for hosting visitors. Required visa information: Who requires a visa? Required by all except: (a) 1. nationals of EU countries for stays not exceeding 3 months; (b) 2. nationals of Canada and the USA for stays not ex-ceeding 3 months; (c) nationals of Commonwealth countries, except Australia, Bonaire, Cameroon, India, Maldives, Mozambique, Namibia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Tuvalu, and Uganda for stays not exceeding 3 months; (d) nationals of Aruba, Brazil, Colombia, Curacao, French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Iceland, Israel, Liechtenstein, Martin-ique, Netherlands Antilles, Norway, Saba, Surinam, St. Eustatius, St Maarten, Switzerland, and Turkey for stays not exceeding 3 months;

What documents will be required? Valid passport required by all persons aged 16 years and over. Passport must be valid at least for the 6 months from date of return. Note: All visitors must be in possession of a valid return ticket to their country of residence or citizenship and suffi-cient funds to maintain themselves whilst in Trinidad & Tobago. Application requirements: (a) Completed application form. (b) One passport-size photograph. (c) Valid passport. (d) Let-ter of invitation or evidence of hotel booking. (e) Letter from employer. (f) Fee. (g) Travel itinerary. What is the cost of a visa? Tourist: £8.50. Business (multiple-entry): £8.50 per entry. A non-refundable processing fee of approximately US$15 must be paid at the time of application. How long is the visa valid for? - 90 days. For more info : http://www.learn4good.com/travel trinidad_and_tobago_visa.htm Or go to our website :www.aiyamar.com

Trinidad and Tobago Rastafari United


THE SLAVE'S MIND IS OFTEN FULL OF RELIGION AND EMPTY OF HISTORY… because he is a victim of the slave master's trickenology

Slavery has long passed, they say, but it has left behind a totally BROKEN-IN and DOMESTICATED people. No other word can better describe the character of the slave de-scendant than the word "DOMESTICATED," for it implies total subjection to the spirit of another in the same way that is witnessed in cats and dogs. The un-informed would think that the slave mentality should have changed by now, but they do not recognize the role that present-day economic muscle plays in the maintenance of spiritual subjugation. By maintaining tight control over every basic necessity, and by maintaining the share-cropping system of debt control, the slavers of today are able to perpetuate the same subservient slavery mentality of yesterday. Because slavery has left a legacy where money and power are generally white, and poverty and powerlessness are gen-erally black, the head that bows and smiles ingratiatingly to get a job, to keep a job, or to get a loan or a grant is also usually black. Survival equals conformity to the white value system. Those are the ever present dynamics of power that ensure a continuation of the slavery mentality. As a direct result of this long ongoing system of racial domi-nation, it is no surprise that the spiritual and cultural orienta-tion of the slave descendant is still stuck in the mud of slav-ery. The need for a serious study of slavery is therefore not so much to prove that a grave injustice has been done, but more importantly to demystify the present injustice that is being done in the still ongoing process of racial domination and subjugation as it manifests itself culturally and eco-nomically. Faced with this unique phenomenon of a people existing as if they are under a spell, one is forced to search history for some answers. Why is it that no other race walks more faith-fully in the white man's footsteps than those who were made virtual clones or carbon copies by centuries of terrorism and enforced subserviency? Because the formal abolishment of slavery did not shift the economic balance in the slightest way, Mr. domination and Mr subserviency have continued to walk hand in hand up to this day, one enforcing his will and the other left with no other easily discernable options but to bow and obey. When bowing and obeying become the norm, DOMESTICATION too becomes the norm. The generations after physical bondage have therefore inher-ited NORMS that are really abnormal, and cling naturally to lifestyles are really unnatural. In not so long ago times, when domination needed to be more terroristic, the slave owner would castrate his slave in the process of making a eunuch.

This now thoroughly broken-in and domesticated slave would tend to become very attached to his owner just like a cat or a dog, and would even try very hard to look like his master or mistress wherever possible. When you remove a people's God-head, it is just like castrating them spiritually. With their natural inborn spiritual power, pride, and self-respect removed, they function under remote control. They have now become re-programmed worshippers of the mas-ter's blonde or straight-hair god-head. Because their true God-head has been tightly corked down in a bottle and buried in a forgotten place on the old plantation, the generations after physical bondage therefore tend to be governed by the belly and the genitals. and they prefer to eat from the slave master's hand. A bellyfull of cheap junk food followed by sex and poor TV can therefore make them quite happy, and the opportunity to use loaned houses and loaned cars actually makes them feel that it is a privilege to be owned by the new slave master called "THE BANKER." When your life is totally owned and controlled by the banker, "It has its benefits"...they say. "This is not slavery, because see how many material things we have,... I mean how many things we are able to use conditionally on the ba-sis of a loan." Formerly, slaves and share-croppers would pray for the day when the plantation would burn, now modern industrial share-croppers pray for the day when the plantation would get more "upscale." And how can slavery ever end when every slave now be-lieves that he too has a chance of becoming another Ameri-can Idol...if he wins the lottery...if he becomes another big-time rapper...or another big-time athlete? That is why the slave master created IDOLS in the first place...to make the slave believe in the plantation, and hold a sense of optimism that some day the owner may promote him... if he follows the rules faithfully. All in all, most of today's modern share-croppers actually care little for leaving the plantation or changing the planta-tion, they are more preoccupied with the task of getting a better position on the plantation. Gone are the days when slaves could be convinced that slav-ery is their main commonality. Now, it is all about which box you are in. Is it the middle class box, the Muslim box, the Christian box, the Democ-ratic/Republican box, the religious Binghi/Twelve Tribe/Bobo box,......the box that does not allow you to see the sameness next door?

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"THE BOX IS MORE IMPORTANT." They say. ...Never mind the underlying landless, exploited, vulnerable, power-less, and totally dependent commonality. Printed with permission from the Author: JAHPAINT

��, producers of conscious educational media is committed to producing and promoting culturally relevant, alternative media such as The Lamentations of Mother Earth. We believe that 21st century media outlets provide little that can be described as healthy media designed to aid in improving the conditions of Black people globally. We believe that as a people we are under assault as never before, based on the total lack of culturally uplifting and edifying media, and it is impacting very negatively on our youth and on our community with dire consequences for the future. We must not continue to join FOLLYwood in its destruction of the minds of our youth. We believe that dramatizing our history is an absolute necessity if its lessons are to be properly understood, , and if our youth are to be given some sense of direction and purpose in a time when such are so evidently missing. In doing so, the timely message of The Lamentations of Mother Earth captures the essence of truth about a past that must not be hidden, —————–>

The Lamentations of Mother Earth

but analyzed and passed on for the benefit of present and future generations. As more and more people in-take information through non-print media, visual and audio media have been elevated to paramount impor-

tance in our society. �� believes that we share with you a common perspective regard-ing the need for culturally relevant media to feed the minds of our people, particularly the youth. We believe that, based on this consciousness, you will see the need to further support an educational venture such as the video, The Lamentations of Mother Earth.

ABOUT THE ARTIST Ras Jahaziel (The Revelator) The Caribbean, once the cultural outpost of Europe, is ex-periencing the cosmic vibrations of a new culture. It is as if a new nation is arising. A new people stand within the corridors of human history and proclaim the dawning of a new age. These are the “rainbow children” of Haile Selassie, Jah Rastafari, a people who have thrown off the mental shackles of neo-colonialism and slavery. These people who are no longer influenced by the negative conceptions inherited from slavery, hold out to the world, and their Diasporic African family especially, a vision that is founded upon Marcus Garvey’s teachings --total acceptance of self and African-centeredness, teaching that herein lies the redemption of the children of Africa who were led astray in the DARK AGES OF EUROPEAN DOMINATION. Founded upon the cornerstone of the divinity of man and woman, patterned after the divinity of Haile Selassie, God in man - Jah Rastafari, many poets, singers, musicians and artists have been born in this new culture. From out of this cultural landscape comes Ras Jahaziel - the Revelator. Born in Barbados, an island of the eastern Caribbean, Ras Jahaziel, the multimedia artist, speaks to the world through the media of large oil paintings on canvas and on video, telling the history of Afri-can people since their encounter with Europeans. It is the story of his grandmother, your grandmother and the sons and daughters who suffered in the African holocaust. His soul-stirring paintings depict such themes as “The Rape of Africa,” the Columbus invasion, the Middle Passage, and the horrors of plantation slavery. Not content to be a historian and re-corder of the trail and trial of the white cross, he ventures into the future. Moving from evocative paintings such as “The Haitian Revolution,” and “Resurrection of the Drum,” the art-ist and visionary shares the hope of repatriation and repara-tion for the scattered Ethiopians in such paintings as “The Re-turn” and “The Harvest.” Every painting has a story that is accompanied by his poetry. Born to be an artist, he recalls spend-ing most of his time in junior and secondary school drawing, draw-ing, drawing with the passion of a one called for a purpose. Never furthering his formal artistic tuition past secondary school where he was guided by the elder and renowned Caribbean artist and sculptor, Karl Broodhagen, he deliberately chose to allow his talent to grow by practice and intuition. Answering the inner call to pursue his creative talents, Ras Jahaziel withdrew from teaching art and drama at a primary school to fulfill his prophetic role.By 1990 he had cre-ated a large body of work after complete withdrawal from all com-munication with society for over twenty years, con’t next page >


TRINIDAD & TOBAGO RASTAFARI UNITED Greenfield Massachusetts, U.S.A

TRINIDAD & TOBAGO RASTAFARI UNITED Gowers Well Rd Fyzabad, Trinidad, West Indies

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ABOUT THE ARTIST Ras Jahaziel (The Revelator) most of them having been spent in the Blue Mountains of Ja-maica and the hills of Barbados. The year 1990 saw his advent on the world stage as an artist. Since then he has won many medals of honor in Barbados’ annual Independence Exhibition. His work has also been displayed in Santo Domingo at the Bi-ennial of Caribbean and Latin-American art in 1992 and the Barbados Consulate in New York City in 1995 and in 2003. In North Carolina, his work has been exhibited at numerous gal-leries including the Wake Visual Arts Gallery, the African American Cultural Center at North Carolina State University, and Hayti Heritage Center. When asked to choose his major exhibition, he readily refers to the United Nations Global Con-ference for Small Island Developing States which was held in Barbados, April, 1994. There his work was seen by thousands from all over the globe. Greatly stimulated by the events of September 11, Ras Jahaziel, the writer, published his first book, Put This in Your Pipe and Smoke It: a View of Terrorism from the Historical Victims of Terrorism, in late 2001. This book, along with the nearly 30-year collection of prophetic revelations, became the impetus for the development of The Lamentations of Mother Earth, his groundbreaking video production, released in January 2004. The Lamentations of Mother Earth is a timely, provocative video that provides clarification in a time of deep mystification. Like the re-emerging voice of those ancestors who were stifled in the African Holocaust, Lamentations takes us on a journey through time and history, in the footsteps of the historical vic-tims of terrorism. . A shocking, thought-provoking film, “Lamentations” connects the often illusive threads of past his-tory with present reality. It is the story of a “people robbed from their homeland … and for four-hundred years” cast into slavery.

It is the story of the present-day heirs of the African holo-caust. A second book, Gods Arising from the Grave of Negro-hood, seen as a companion to the video, suggests potent remedies to present-day struggles. Presently, Ras Jahaziel is focused on producing his next video, the sequel to Lamentations, The Healing of Mother Earth.

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